Superficially at least, eating beef
heart would seem like more of a gross-out gag than a gastronomic pleasure. (Zombies
and Andrew Zimmern notwithstanding.) And yet, like most superficial assumptions,
the idea that beef heart is gruesome as opposed to delicious is completely
wrong. It's both remarkably lean (about 95 percent to be exact-ish) and as rich
in nutrients as liver. "Provided the animal was healthy, the heart can be a
very tender, very sweet muscle," says Justin Severino,
the chef and owner of the Pittsburgh-based restaurant Cure,
which Bon Appétit listed among the
country's best new restaurants in 2012.

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As such, it's increasingly popping up
on menus. Preston Clark, formerly of the
meat mecca Resto in New York City, fashioned beef
heart into schnitzel, while Chris Pandel of The Bristol in Chicago pairs it with a watermelon
salad. At Cure, Severino typically prepares beef heart in one of two ways—either
as tartare or as part of a Bolognese. "Whenever I put heart on the menu," he
explains, "people definitely become intrigued because we quickly sell out."

Cooking with beef heart at home can be
highly anatomical—i.e., ventricles can be found both inside and outside of the
heart, necessitating considerable open-heart surgery to remove them. And so,
the best thing to do is to get the heart from a reputable local butcher and have
them do all the work. (Plan ahead, though, since it might require a special
order.) For instance, the butcher can cut the beef heart into the shape of a
steak or grind it into tiny pieces akin to ground beef—the way in which
Severino prepares it for his Beef Heart Bolognese, full recipe below.

In a thick-bottomed saucepot, slowly
render diced pancetta to crispy over medium heat. Add minced garlic, and cook
to golden brown. Add onions, carrots and celery root. Reduce heat to low, and
cook slowly until the onions, carrots and celery are soft and sweet, but not
caramelized. Add ground beef heart and sweet Italian sausage. Stir to prevent
clumping. De-glaze pan with vermouth and reduce by half. Add tomato puree.

Over low heat, allow sauce to cook for
roughly three hours until the bitter and sour notes of the tomatoes are
transformed to a sweet-balanced tomato sauce. Add cream and salt and pepper to
taste. Reserve what you need for dinner; the rest freezes well for future use. The
recipe yields 8 quarts of sauce.

Cook pasta three-quarters of the way
done in salted, rapidly boiling water. Transfer mostly cooked pasta into
reserved sauce and continue cooking, letting the pasta soak up the sauce.